


Ice Castle

by Crumbling_Leonice



Category: Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21908755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crumbling_Leonice/pseuds/Crumbling_Leonice
Summary: Years after Ghetsis got defeated, still hiding in Unova with his only left follower, Zinzolin, as they try to make something out of their lives.
Relationships: G-Cis Harmonia | Ghetsis Harmonia/Vio | Zinzolin, N | Natural Harmonia Gropius/Touya | Hilbert
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. First Chapter: Ice rubble

Chapter 1: 

_Spin, spin, mayeth thou spinst all of thy might, clock._ The clock hands were three, yet none of them could absorb Zinzolin more than he had been all his life. As many clocks that could have been hiding in its gigantic robe, none of them would give them what he wanted. He raised up his hand once again, striking what was nonetheless void. Maybe the medicine he had taken once in a while was once again soothing his mind and very body. Perhaps this desire to take medicine was beyond his need of void. There was nothing to cure in him. His lord's madness had just taken everything around him. He should not have needed anything, though. And yet, here he was, piling up in a dark cave under Unova. He shook once more his pale arm, stretching out for the time spreading away.   
-Stop it.   
A freeze that could have killed him just made him obey. Of course he should behave himself in front of the Lord. The green thorny hair that had poisoned all of their lives was not unbearable anymore. Even more for him who had nearly been killed sometimes. Was he desiring so much to see something close to the "ultimate evil"?  
-If thou want to stay here, refrain from doing thy stupid practices.   
Zinzolin thought of crawling on the ground to be forgiven, yet either way it would have been useless. His savior and doom may have crushed his head on the stones. At least he would have felt alive. Before his blood dries away, at least. His voice stood still for minutes as the frost kept on warming his very being. He had wanted to keep on following him.   
-I... am utterly sorry, Lord Ghetsis.   
The very terror alluring in what could have been a room was enough to keep him alive. The clock could have been his whole delirium. Ghetsis could have simply killed him. The frost could have swept him like they had done to Opelucid City years ago. They had failed so many times. Why didn't he just go away? Even on Alola, as much as N and Hilbert were rumored to be on. Maybe he actually had wanted to see his perfect god crawling on the ground, dragging his maimed body while being betrayed even by his depressed scientist. "All the evil in the world" had been stricken down by some teenagers, including one who was now supposed to be his adoptive son's boyfriend.   
-I guess thou art not able to join Colress anymore.   
Zinzolin felt a second time the killing freeze. Ghetsis's voice was another needle murdering his senses. He reached out for the _holokit_ in his coat as fast as he could, under the red-eyed old dictator that he admired and secretly despised from the bottom of his soul. Their last mean of communication was now their sole entertainment as long as the champion and her colleagues were not busy by the League. The light given off by the screen still seemed ghastly, maybe because the battery would one day or another vanished. The soft sounds announced a cataclysm Zinzolin prefered to ignore by pure anticipation. It would be a beautiful and entertaining doom.  
-Oh, the traitor indeed left a message. And a recorded one, moreover.   
He would start the record and left the symphony plays as the background would collapse.   
_-Hewo! It's mwe, Colwess, youw favowite scientwist! I hawe left the fwigate and left it cwashed becwause I had no mowe use neithwew fow you ow ideowologies! Pwease do die one day, bwoomew! I am now lwiving in a vewy peacefwul island and Hilbewt and N awe so happy, I hope you wish youw son's whappiness too._  
The only Sage left if Ghetsis had died back then made sure the _holokit_ was safe in his coat, near his heart still pulsing. The clock was no more of his concern. The ominous silence piled up on the everlasting frost. Some scratchings and deep breathings were the first newcomers in the cave. Ah, his stress did exist, then.   
-What is that.   
-I do not know, my Lord.   
-WHY THE FUCK DOES HE SPEAK THIS WAY? WHAT ARE THOSE "UWU" SHIT?   
-I do not know, Lord Ghetsis.   
Maybe trying to rythm his own breath according to his Lord's one would hinder him from laughing.   
-WHY ARE THOSE BITCHES ALL SO FULL OF THEMSELVES? AH, I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO CRUSH HIS LITTLE BITCHY FACE! How nice was I, back then. Fucking youngsters that should have died.   
-Indeed, how nice of thee to educate treator N.   
-AND NOW WHAT HAVE I HEARD? THAT HE IS HAPPY WITH ANOTHER SPIKY YOUNGSTER?   
-I think that means they are a couple, Lord Ghetsis. 


	2. Second Chapter: The Six Sages and the Buffoon

-A couple.

The burning dread had just returned to the frozen state Zinzolin liked and feared. If some kind of pleasure could be the result of seeing the fallen king to a state of rage, in a state where he was no more able to plot and anticipate, the freezing and deep voice was another... thing. Of course this frozen status, this deep and hollow voice was what they all sought back then. A spinning ideology in which they partly believed for the sake of believing in one distant and ghastly dream. N was their main nightmare and fuel. If he succeeded, then their fake beliefs would have been ashes since the beginning, only brought back to an inform status of scepticism. Maybe their despair and boredom was what lead them to give up on intellect and bet on Ghetsis's madness. How could they not? They were tired of some wars and history repeating itself and humans dying and not finding key to immortality and pokemon dying and themselves and... He was no more than a broken adult himself, or the most perfect adult in the world. A terrifying child stuck in an adult's body using adults tricks and a child stuck in an almost adult body using children tricks. These two children were their sole hope. Maybe they somehow liked seeing these two sacred kids fighting to death in front of them. Was their adulthood twisted to the point of craving for others's humiliation? Zinzolin smiled in front of their everlasting superficial child. 

-I forgot that, in thy wide range of flaws, homophobia was such a huge one. 

The red eye stood in front of him, enough to bleed out his whole face. Even his child self never felt such tremendous fear in front of some Pokemon. How could a human be more terrifying in such a decrepid state than a young Pokemon, full of mysterious powers? Immortality would probably never exist in this world and dying after a peaceful life seemed already too empty. Dying of an heart attack because of Ghetsis's overwhelming charisma was such a charming idea. 

-Shall I make thou quiet on a cold bed? 

-Oh, well, if thou want to be alone in a freezing cave, I do not mind. 

The watch became his target again. The time was flowing, and they were stuck in. His savior's fallen status was truly beautiful. How could his fake ideology fell to this point? They had done nothing, and they were the ones awarded with a perfect play. Who had been pawns since all this time? Oh, maybe pawns were already old-fashioned. His glance met Ghetsis's black coat, as wrapped on his body as it could be. Even their stupid leader would die, as it seems, even covered by others's good-will. 

-Maybe Hydreigon could warm thou up, Lord Ghetsis. 

-He will try to eat my left arm. 

-Oh, yes, I had forgotten this. Whom had eaten your "left" arm? I forgot. 

-Shall I throw a rock into thy throat and let thou bleed until you die? 

-Oh, why don't thou? I am such a nuisance for thou...

-Thou perfectly know why. Stop entertaining thyself by trying to make me kill you. 

-I am utterly sorry, my Lord. 

-What time is it. 

The shiver grasped enough Zinzolin to break any other joke. Though even if he wanted to give out a true information, there was no way of knowing if his watch would tell some kind of truth, or at least what Ghetsis wanted to hear. He reached out for the holokit again. He might be able to give out two truths.

-Well, 5 pm on the watch, 4 am on the holokit. 

-What about the elite four and their... princess... kid... leader.

-We may run out of battery if we keep checking everything on the holokit.

-Check what I asked thou to check. 

Only Zinzolin's joy kept on piling up on the freshly disappearing silence, which some energic swipes stabbed once more. 

-Well, it seems that the League has opened a few hours ago.

-Which means we will be able to escape without being caught by some nuisance. Which would not have happened if I had been this country's leader, and even less if I had been this whole system's leader. 

-To wich place shall we escape, my Lord? 

Not that he cares anyway. As long as he was with the pathetic dictator who could fill him with such vivid terror, he could have gone to some far away dimension. He would probably be a better person than Ghetsis even after death. The everliving elder stood up on his too young legs. 

-Any place as long as a kid is not the crowned one. 

-We should maybe avoid places that had troublesome teams too. 

-Art thou saying something intelligent? How useful of thou, Zinzolin. 

-Which leaves us with... oh, Alola sounds almost nice. 

A print of ice climbed along his shoulder, almost piercing his bones through the heavy robe. Ghetsis's shadow was already eating his silhouette again. 

-I-I didn't mean to joke, My Lord! Considering its paradisiac climate and how many tourists it attracts as its main economy, plus its different islands and almost apolitical status, it... really should be the best for us to escape. 

The grip erased itself as Zinzolin's arguments finally reached the freezing shadow. 

-Alola. 

-Well, I know N and Hilbert are on one of the islands but meeting them would only be a joke. 

-We will not see them. 

-Yes, we will not see them. 

-Thou art the one with the money, my bank account was taken by the police when I got arrested.

-Of course, my Lord. Of course. 

Alola. Be it, then.


	3. Third Chapter: The Living Darkness

They had nothing left. The Giant Chasm was nothing but an unholy sanctuary they had raised from ice to ice. Stones were their pavement and wind their sole entertainment. Walking along the nightmares and dreams's corpses carved in the eternal walls was their only left option, as always. The puppet king had became human and the puppeteer was back in his lifeless thinking. Seeing a child only able to love predestinated targets had been great. Yes, they felt human back then. As twisted as their minds had been, they had felt something. Probably pity for some, and great relief for himself. 

-Zinzolin. Has any of thy... pokemon the knowledge of Fly? 

-I do not think so, my Lord. 

The black-leathered wrapped man stood in front of him, refusing the sun's mild presence. A Murkrow feasting on ruined dreams was probably one of them. A melting ink presence was all Ghetsis had ever have. His child's blabbering and sweet words were nothing they had been afraid of. Only the presence, awful and pathetic, could had left them for pawns playing with themselves. Because the presence existed in itself. And was still there. The ground screeched for one second, harassed by his lord's unique rod. The dead trees stood afar from them, probably as tired as they were. Only the ice kept on shining on Ghetsis. The red-eyed man had somehow became more colorful than the whole landscape. He probably only knew how to rob. 

-Zinzolin. I am coerced to teach Fly to one of my Pokemon. Protect Myself with thy Pokemon. 

-Understood, my Lord!

The other black-cladded creature appeared, shouting of all his might. Here they were, incomplete and trying to kill each other, only wrapped in some fake darness they dared to endlessly swallow. The bites and fangs ripped the wind and rocks and ground and sounds and dead leafs. Drooling on the buried hope and grasping air to end his master. Screeching melted words were his left sanity. Only dark was left. Only a part of him was left. 

-hYYYYYYYYYDRRrrrr.... gOOOn... 

He didn't stop howling neither crying neither shouting neither screeching neither breathing. Biting the ground before throwing rocks at his executioner, reaching his head with his lifeless own heads...

-Cryogonal! Confuse Ray! Let him be at peace in madness for some seconds. 

The lively ice block sent out his own folly and stopped the other. Ghetsis put a leather protected feet on one of his arms before reaching out his enemy's abdomen with his rod. 

-Zinzolin. Look away. I have to bend down. Do not look until I tell thou to. 

-Understood, understood... I could just help you sticking him to the ground, though. 

-I am Ghetsis. Hydreigon will get tired with the Life Orb I gave him. 

-gOOOOOOnNNn...! 

The landscape didn't change even with the torture occuring. There was simply nothing left. The frozen environnement was their reversed evolution. 

-Learn. Monster. Learn. 

Wind and Ghetsis's voice were the only reverberated living things around. Partly cut universe was stuck there, and they were perfectly part of it. 

-LEARN. AND OBEY. OBEY ME. 

He was pathetic. Basic intellect and fake knowledge, strength and hollow ideals. He was nothing but a dictator sprout like many before him. But somehow, life kept flowing in him. 

-This is it, Zinzolin. We can go. Once I will have give the order, he will follow. 

Pulling back once more the everlasting white scepter was his first action. And getting bitten for it his second. 

-Get the fuck off, you bitch. 

Hitting the true head to the ground with the same true scepter. 

-Now, use Fly until we get to Alola. If we do get there, maybe I will get you to the Pokemon Center with Zinzolin. 

-Hydr.... 

-I did not remember agreeing to such a proposition, my Lord. 

-Is it possible thou art losing the small amount of intellect thou could have? 

-Oh please, I am sorry, I will do as you tell me to do. 

The red glare disappeared as Hydreigon kneeled on the ground, as deep as his shapeless knees could pierce the icy mirror. The old king walked. In front of him. He was not menacing neither threatening. He would probably only barely run if he had to. One missing eye, one missing arm. And yet he reached out for his only fake follower left. Frozen black fingers grasped his jaw. 

-Stop making fun of me, Zinzolin. I am the winner here, and thou know why. 

He was not threatening. He would not even be able to catch him if Zinzolin were to flee. But his hot breath was real. He would not kill him. But he was probably able to steal all his life leftovers. He left him and took a seat on his motionless Pokemon. 

-Let us leave this ungrateful country.


	4. Fourth Chapter : From the Sea, dear abyss

-My Lord, maybe we... should change our clothes. 

Even though the following sun could break apart the denied human among his many enemies, the melting would probably occured along his clothes. Stabbing the sand once and twice, killing as much as he could billions of immortals. How could he fail on such a simple task? Killing millions of people was probably as hard without Kyurem. Slipping and surviving around him. Few people still ran onto the beach and grass, and the sight of the two old men probably let them escape through other unreachable landscapes. 

-Change our clothes. Isn't Alola supposed to be excluded from all outside conflict? 

-Of course, my Lord Ghetsis but... with these kind of clothes we're not only going to scare children...

-I hate them.

-Yes, I despise them too but I mean, we are probably going to die from the heat. 

-Yes, very well, my friend. I have one missing arm, one missing eye and thou want ME to wear lighter clothes. Art thou an unbelievable genius? 

-I was not planning to buy thou a floral shirt. 

Seeing Ghetsis both humiliated and on the verge of killing would probably be a good reason to be alive. Now that they were far from Unova's Elite Four and their dragon princess and their fallen castle and their lost money and their disbanded organization... The time would certainly go insane in some other ways. The watches would not belt him anymore. 

-I hope so. Weren't we supposed to get a room and... other things with what Colress left to us?

-The other things included clothes, I think, but yes, definitely. 

-Heeey, I know you guys!

How little could be Ghetsis's charisma and Zinzolin's fear of him, only the tremendous danger ready to break his mortal bones could worth it. The oceanic-hair-colored boy or man facing them was another kind of threat. The definitely attractive and big blue eyes filled of youth and seas of possibilities, along so many shades and waves they could not handle, was now the worst problem of the moment. A shiny amount of destinies was now standing in front of them, tanned by a mutually loved sun. How could he even react? 

-Oh, yeah, the name's Marlon. Guess you just kinda know about myself... Well, I ain't givin' a care if you stay here. I've lost myself while swimming, guess the day was so long it turned into a journey... 

Why was he even talking to them? He could have called the police. Any other gym leader would have done that. No, even a trainer. Even a non-pokemon person would have done it. This dread was not to be felt anymore. 

-Ah! Yes, sorry, just gotta tell you that I'm not gonna tell anyone who you are or what not... That's not my business and I guess you just wanna have some new life or something like that... Ideals and Justice really aren't for me, I guess. I mean, what's the use in thinking about something someone could think as exactly as me... Just gotta love what I love to the hardest and be myself thanks to it, that's enough. Gotta go, live peacefully and all that stuff!

The seaman plunged in the infinite ocean once more and let everything drives him far from the island. Typhoon and rain were only one other aspect of the water he likes so much. Floating along Pokemon, touching the bottom of another universe and lets the time flows outside was a possibility in this life. And he wouldn't find a definite dream neither any kind of evolution in the forever changing waves. But Pokemon were enough to complete them. Longer lives, mutual help and affection, the very existence of magic... Humans could now again be animals respecting the others.

-Let us buy new clothes, Zinzolin. 

Daring to joke and switch to the lively fear would be a unfortunate mistake. Raising one's head and watch the other infinite blue while feeling another unlimited wind brushing his white hair out of his last hat was somehow the best and most normal idea he ever had, if he truly had one before and after being a Sage, whatever a Sage was. Still, sunlight and heat were painful and definitely not epiphanic. Ghetsis was probably feeling the same... Even if they were for once on the same somehow humanity foot, they never craved for equality. Seeing the other's misunderstanding and mistakes was more than enough. They had done too many to even think of correcting anything. Cynism was their sole intellect, and mutual hatred their left hope. But they probably thought enough to be superior beings... 

-I am going, My Lord. I shall not be as suspicious as thou art. Well, I am, but not that much compared to thou. 

-Very well. Go and buy that clothes. Do not buy anything too colorful or short. 

-I know that, Lord Ghetsis. 

That information would probably better be erased for the sake of their cooperative future.


	5. Fifth Chapter : The Flower, the Poison and the Third Thing

The crime in a sense was swelling, dripping of the thing he had dared to "buy". Their money, the money his supposed lord actually stole from them, but that they predicted he would stole from them and thus they exchanged a silver crown again, really did buy something he did not want to. Seeing this face full of freezing cold anger, a light sky anger to be sure, was a delight among the world's possibilities. Was he not stupid to the point of reversing concepts and basis? Bothering him could certainly be a kind of justice. Except if his eyes could truly have seen their schemes and colors. 

-Thus. Thou had... bought such horrid thing. I guess thou really like this clothing to the point of buying two sets for thine self. 

The freezing heat, the stupid hot blizzard were not even dancing in a way or the other. They were not there. The Elements were somehow out of the way, and his Sage title was truly an illusion, either flickering along his leftovers or sitting next to his unbelieved soul. Or... was he a Pokemon, in a way or another? The thought in itself was probably idiotic. 

-I... bought one for thou, my Lord. The one with long sleeves will probably suit thou...   
His face brought up a smile, out of obedient muscles. Elements ran away from him or hide themselves or were as quiet as his whole chunk of skin. He could not be glad from such a hoax. Or was it a signal for Hydreigon...? 

-I have no intention of bothering myself over such trivial matter. Thus, I will have the longer one, indeed. Shall I thank thou, my friend? Thou were such an help. 

Water, air, earth, fire had no more to do with this man. The slice of wind back off from such abnormal grassy hair. The waves and their millions looked afar. Their trillion conceptual limbs would not stain themselves from such petty idea, or such grandiloquent one. He had foreseen. Something, everything. Whatever. He HAD. Shouting on Zinzolin would make him a man deserving of losing his time. And his Sage would only feast upon such weakness, and enjoys the absurd pain he was supposed to give him. How could the Alola Shirt, as long and covering, as diluted among the original flowers, not burn him down? Strangle him, drown him, whatever. Well, no shirt could have murdered, killed, any human, after all. 

And thus were the mint sleeves, as emerald as were the forest hair moving in the wind once more, covering his arm, and the rest of the other. The Flabébé pattern was not escaping through melting or sweat, or any magical way he could find. He was still "it". Neither were the black trousers fitting the legs which should have crumbled by then, and the black boots supporting bones full of some vampirism for sure. A straw hat may have brainwashed such an already blessed-by-miracles man. Could he hear the things going on, the same that he did hear? Of course he was not deaf in some kind. Or maybe was he hearing something else than sounds? Shades, perhaps.   
-Gladion, Lillie, please do not run that much. I am still pretty tired. 

-Yeaah, yeah... We're old enough, y'know. Ya should just stay at home for now and rest... I've been holdin' the islands by myself. Almost. 

-Stop forgetting about Elio and Selene! You're being mean, Gladion... 

Was he listening to these same voices? 

-Please listen to me, my dear children... 

-I just wanna go and see Elio again... 

-I just wanna go and see Selene again... I want to move in a quiet place and not being chained by anyone anymore! 

-OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE PLEASE! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPY RIGHT NOW?

For sure he would have heard this single fragment. The whole palette of sounds may have been blind in front of him, but this glimpse was for him.

-What a charming woman. But let us move away and find a peaceful shelter as for now. 

The Seventh Sage was acting again from the living brain. Did he intend on reactivating such old cells? If they were anew, they were yet the same. Their clothed feet brought them further on the sand. Should they keep on dragging their bodies among the clothing making them stand for a bit longer? What of the coconut tree, what of the Exeggutor? Their leaves moved, whether they were facing right or left was of little concern. The roots waltzed beneath the earth running by itself for sure. The numerous blues flown in the sky and sea, without bringing patches along their way. A cloud could pass by, either white, grey or of all other colors, probably. And thus was the water twirling, among alien elements. 

-Where shall we go exactly, my Lord? 

The bright sun would not forgive them. A certain number of rays would drop and melt along the atmosphere, seeking them throughout the world. Was the weather that hellish, or simply far from their Unovan old condition? One or the other was certainly too much of a trouble for the left one, for the leader. 

-A place where there is no sun... Well, where there is shade at least. 

The unlimited needles of the world would not stop moving, after all. And deleting one of them was useless for such slow and dysfunctioning needles. Killing time was useless between their hands. Between his hands at least. Ghetsis's goal was probably something... else, now. Or was it something else, now? Whatever. A Toxapex rose from the sea and dove again. Poison itself, mixed with billions, was swirling on its own. They were worthless, after all. The watch rose again from the pocket anew ready to spread onto her new vessel, as old as he was. Daytime was, certainly, not the same here. Or was it? Everything was speeding up, slowing up, rushing or whatever. But a stop could not be brought to anything. These time spikes would be stupid once the trees cover them. The bushes shone around them, and their potential eyes could probably watch over them. The star was not there, but everything was, after all. Boredom and exhaustion put down their living corpses. The light would come through the next day, whoever of the two comes first. 

-If thou were that much seeking shelter, perhaps should have I bought some sunscreen to avoid such journey. 

-No need for such trivial things. 

Was the Sage going back again? Or Ghetsis? Soothing could not pity him as long as the one facing him was not going down. Cowardice, manipulative ways and hypocrisy were running through him. How could he enjoy such quietness? Or was Ghetsis... being grazed by change? Change would dare showing in front of such miscreant... yet not him. He had made money into itself, free of his young hands, years ago. Pokemon were probably saved thanks to this act, along with trainers and non-trainers. Wishes poured out of his heart, still beating, and still beating for the time being. When have they escaped, when have he become...? 

-Is it possible that thou have found such thing as peace of mind, my Lord? 

Yet the possibility of shattering this new face could still flow within this place. 

-Not really. I have but little hopes for the future. 

Anger was not overflowing. Had this element slapped him as well? Was anger tired with such a defective, fautly, puppet? Sadness had started pitying him, or toying him to death. 

-That is not like... thou, my Lord. 

-Have thou every known me, Zinzolin? Well, I should say, have you ever known me, Zinzolin. This doesn't change anything, anyway. 

-My Lord, what the... 

-What? There's no way I'll succeed in anything. I'm too old, and my body will break down soon, no, breaking will come to take me for sure. I'm not even a machine, not that I truly wished for it one day. You shouldn't be that surprised. We were a simple bunch of old stupid people. Probably all rich moreover. 

-Have thou... found... hm... redemption? 

The wind whistled far away for sure. The sound was still running all over the place. 

-No. I just gave up. There's no way I can empty people's head and fill them with more materialistic things instead of dumb ideals. 

-Were thou the dreamy type all along? 

-I more think of myself as trying to destroy everyone else's dreams since this world is meaningless. Ideals will be our... well, mankind's downfall. We should seek simple things, emotions. That was what I thought was for the best but oh... whatever. Whatever. 

And thus motion lead the world, or trade in an way or another, in which they were not included.


	6. Sixth Chapter: Feel-in

Yet they had to pull their legs away from the static and vampiric motion, ignoring their existences through disappearing breathing and shades of reality. Legendary Pokémon would not bless them, and thus their elements would either sink through them, or make them drown. Were they that afraid of seeing these living myths escaping their own forms of mythology, breaking through the blue sky which they only knew as blue, through the shaded grass they knew as such, through this pack of formulas they had piled on for centuries? Pokemon were, after all, the magic they had sought. But why would have Arceus created them, side by side? Zinzolin forced his body to stand up through all his well-known nerves awakened again and again by his so far beloved frost. Ghetsis's semi-madness had never been enough, after all. Even when it possessed him entirely, even when he had pushed himself down in his own dementia, he could not hang on it. He had some kind of hopes cursing his being, after all. He still owned despair of unfulfilled hopes, and useless reflexions reflecting themselves through a limited set of eyes he could not tell he possessed. And thus he had tried to destroy thoughts he could not bear. Couldn't he? If the green had been swirling in teal right now, he would have not plucked his eyes out. Mysteries shaped this world's part for sure. Yet Cutieflies could only be seen outside their range, and clouds waltzing between all the small shades of black and white were running around this planet. They may gather rain as Arceus would have decided. Maybe the world had been going dry for some minutes, seconds. A purely animal blessing would never be selfish. 

The gray ether appeared through Arceus's potential blue scales. Cutieflies disappeared, Toxapexes rose from the ever-cherished darkness coming forth. 

-Zinzolin. Art thou thinking of leaving me behind by your wandering eyes? 

-I am not, my Lord. Why should I? I am as noticeable as thou art. 

Either his odds of being caught would increase, or decrease, once far from Ghetsis. Games of luck would probably be fun, though. But he had not yet dig enough the old fool's brain to get overflowed with boredom. Didn't he get shocked a few hours ago, by something as trivial as buying clothes? The Ancient Sage hid again his gone left arm with the emerald cloth patched with pinkish flowers, whether he still felt it or not. Should he ask something that could bother him? He knew how to actually react, in the end. Which Ghetsis would be discovered, then? 

-Let us walk away from this wood doomed to be soaked. 

-Sure, but where should we go? 

-Whatever, even jail would do it. 

-Yet we ran away because thou wanted to escape jail. 

The black boot erased a step. The old man was losing his grip over himself, and his clothing would devour him as soon as it could. How was loss invading him, though? Was he sulking, sighing, crying? Or were these threads, these nerves, these spells, already broken too? 

-I wanted to come here since I wanted to see for myself if Alola was falling prey to an economic crisis or racism. It does not seem the case... 

-Sure, sure. That does not tell us where we should go. 

Slowing down the answer was fastening his life, after all. And yet the watches would stop once under water... It would... definitely be bothersome. For some way or others. 

-And yet I said "whatever". 

The black boots had to crush dead leaves again, as heavy as they were for the weak Sage. He bent this almost corpse again and again under the stormy sky dancing among Arceus's playground or sacred shrine. They certaintly had never broken his beloved toys, neither his complex creatures. Zinzolin took a step in his shoes barely printing themselves in the dirt full of plants. Some berry trees cast a deeper shadow on them, others a shallower one. Toxapexes toddled around the neverending colors swapping, and one may have runned some decades later. Pecha berries and Tamato ones grew together, under the infinite and finite. None of them was a problem for Pokemon. A hand reached out for one of the last watches circling Zinzolin. How old were they? Shouldn't he throw away this thing, no, give it away to someone? The honey and blue poisoned-eyes were not on their way of killing him, even if they were of a morbid yellow in the end. Poison Type Pokemon had not been conceived to exterminate mankind. None of them, actually. Probably? Lapapa berries fell through the tiny sky, whether they would be eaten or not. Why should only one sky exist? The Plasma remnants disappeared from the ressurecting woods. Heavy rain gushed out of the still shadowy forest, yet far from the billions of water fragments. 

-Ah, yes. I had forgotten that climate is still as random as ever. We should just get to another area before getting a cold and die as the elderly lads we are. 

The elderly, old leader bent his rest of head under the frame of infinite drops. The eyepatch moved from his position and role under the claw-like hand. It would not say a single word for sure, but it did not twitch neither. Water was not escaping the empty socket. Rain blurred the brown and red leftovers, ran down toward the first cave the world had given him. 

-My Lord, we should keep going, especially if you want to clean your empty eyelid. Running water should do it. 

-... Can I become a river, Zinzolin? 

-You have already get thyself sick, oh, Sage. Let us move away. 

-Indeed, maybe you should move before someone else get his hand on you! 

A clear, deep and soft voice pierced the world's noises. She was a part of it for sure. A black umbrella slept next to her own sound, ready to wake up as soon as she would ask for it. The item shielded her for free, as it seems. The almost pink smile was their friend for some reason. Sapphire to ocean eyes moved between the two Sages, which they probably did not consider as such. The full-fleshed girl took a step through her cogs of clothing. 

-You...!! What the fuck are you doing here, you fucking bitch?! 

-Eeeh, that's not really nice to say such things, especially when this very "bitch" has no intention of giving you away to the police... Well of course, that depends on how will the conversation keep going~. 

A purr sound poured while a little crew probably grew. A thin shadow of purple and legs was scratching the dirt going mud, a tiny light ball of brown played with the chesnut hair regulated through buns and connected strands. How many shadows and lights did she have? 

-Are you... Rosa? The very one that helped Hilbert and Hilda destroying all of Ghetsis's... our plans?

Like he cared for such trivial matters. Who knows for how long Ghetsis would have been entertaining once a king? Probably not that much. Chaos was better enjoyed through this poor and stupid man who had but only earned defeats. If he had succeeded, his brain would not have been that old-fashioned. Maybe he actually would have been the right thing to do. 

-I am Rosa, yes. Well, actuaaaaally, I kind of expected you to come here. This is the most obvious place to come, and I spammed Colress until he spilled the beans, but don't worry, I didn't spam him that much since he actually told me what I wanted to know in like, 5 minutes. He's in a pretty good mood, here, especially since I accepted to work with him to get Kyurem on a better shape, and thanks to Hilda's everlasting support, too. 

She slightly pull her pastel bag up, whether it was red or pink through the blurring atmosphere. Or was she searching for some weapon? She was the one that had pulled the strings behind Hilda, Hilbert and Nate after all. Hadn't she planned to send Hilda on the fregate to destroy everything with her bare hands and Pokemon? Hadn't she planned to send Nate to blow up different parts in the boat to make them lose their focus on a potentiel third party? Hadn't she planned to send Hilbert to utterly destroy the poor leftovers of their strengths? 

-What do you... want, Rosa. 

Her hands stroked two other creatures in the misty rain. Surely, her body was not talking to herself, finally. None of the color nor cloth was melting under her insulting tone. Was she right in her insults? Or was she simply neutral in some other way? She did not look like she was angry. Thus, these insults could be a form of ill courtesy. Her pink and white shirt was shaded, her yellow short almost beaming. And her smile was not shaking neither etched. 

-Well, actually, I don't want that muuuch. I just want to make sure of something, since I don't really care about what could happen to you. Well, to be fair, I do, but in certain ways. If your answers- convince me, I kind of can root for you, in spirit at least. If it were to be the contrary, well, someone will surely hunt you like the fucking trashbags you are, haha. And your useless brains will for sure get splashed on the walls, or probably more likely into a well. Or the cops may catch you. Maybe. 

-Do you know I still own Hydreigon, you arrogant little minx? 

-Sure I do. And I'm pretty sure he will prefer go with me if I were to stroke him. Now listen to me, so we can know what will happen to you~!

-Under the rain? 

-You were wandering through the rain, don't try to brain me. So! Zinzolin, since you know how much of a motherfucker is Ghetsis, why do you stick to him? Or maybe you actually still admired him, if you ever admired him for real? 

-W-why would you cared for something like that?

Did she wish for him to finally say how much he made fun of Ghetsis and despised him? Perhaps she truly wanted to watch them dying by the other's hands. He was only using Ghetsis to get over his own complex, wasn't he? 

-Just answer, please. This will be important for all of us. 

-Well, I guess I have to follow my Lord until the end of my life at least.

-And you never thought of leaving him, I guess. Since everyone did, but not you. 

The Five Others were Sages. They had learned. But them... Weren't they magicians? Hoping for something that did not exist, cursing the magic they could not grasp for existing. 

-I did... not, indeed. I cannot think of leaving my Lord. 

How could this be the truth? Somehow, it ended up as the truth. They were barely using each other. Yet... 

-I understand, I understand. So, former Natural Harmonia Gropius Ghetsis, how about you? 

-I do not wish to be separated from Zinzolin. 

-Wait wh-

-And that's it! I can let you go, I don't care anymore. You're probably in love and that's the proof y'all can change. This is great. Alola is really great. I guess that's another couple I can add to my list, and I'll go and check the others. Alola really seems like a paradise... Oh, there's an abandoned store if you want to live somewhere. There are wild Pokemon, but I'm pretty sure they will live on their own if you don't disturb them. Adieu! 

And the girl disappeared among the mist and rain, bringing her shadows and lights away.


	7. Seventh Chapter : The wheel was not

The rain had not stopped for the slightest. She, it, he, nevermind, just would keep on flowing where they want to. They were the one moving, if their legs were not possessing them already. Rosa had disappeared through the rain, and not a droplet seemed to have played with her. The rain pouring would not have likely spared her if she had been crossing the raining field without anything, yet an umbrella should not have shielded her as an artefact. Her hands ordered around by herself knew how to handle such an easy thing. How could a sadistic teenager face a better future than theirs? Wasn't she checking love out there to prove that even the lowest of scum could feel affection for one of his kin? Yet she was caring for Kyurem and Hilda at least. Why? It was yet to be related to her "love" search. They were not especially stupid nor weak people she could handle without any caution. Or perhaps she wasn't handling them in the first place, but something else? Well, creating alliances or friendship were not an illusion, in the end. Barely utopic for soon to be corpses. Of course Zinzolin had a sufficient knowledge to get a grasp on this friendship and other trifling matters. Wasn't he a Sage, after all? But friendship was not going between Ghetsis and himself. A song of supplication, neverending prayers, delicate extraction, could not have summoned such entity, since its role was not required. There was something between them, or they were hanging on something until their lurking death. Hadn't Rosa call this "love"? 

-Zinzolin, mayeth thou move on? 

-Yes, yes, I am sorry, my Lord. 

The moon did not care about them anymore, as did the whole universe for sure. Whether she had drowned them with light or made their ways of darkness only, each piece would be able to kill them without even thinking about it. The world was not planning to kill them. The houses's shadows forward were not running away nor calling any Pokemon. They were, just there.

The wooden, tiny buildings were probably that of a small town, especially compared to Unovan cities. The wind was standing afar, and his kin was walking through the islands on a dedicated whim. Whether the whim was chosen or hunting them was something else. The sand slept beneath their boots's steps and no breath was striding, trudging, toddling, rushing through a body. Yet, slumber was to be heard. Or were they becoming deaf on the softly crumbling dirt? They could hear their own steps... Though their ears should have been dead for other reasons if the whole world had decided to send them off. A last chance was... bestowed upon them. The small buildings let them walk again. Paniola Town was still a part of this universe, after all. The innocent crushing sounds kept on flowing, never twirling. Would they disappear if they somehow misbehave? 

-My Lord... we have been walking for a while, yet... is the mansion Rosa talked about, near? 

The symphonic walk stopped, and the first wave of sounds followed as it was to be surmised. But the former frost had disappear from the ancient Sage. No, it never was inside. No element ever blessed him. Or did they at some point? Maybe he just threw them out of his eyes. Perhaps these elements were too much of themselves. Elements, gears, cogs, things. These were too much for him to bear. And thus was created rather than born, Natural Harmonia Gropius Ghetsis. Somehow, he could praise him. For being a such a fool. Such a cruel, heartless, if this word could be used, fool. 

-Well, I do not know. Since I do not have a map.

-Where... shall we go, then?

Since boredom could be loiting and screwing his head, this situation was not entirely annoying. If boredom broke down, he would be free of something. If it stood by his side, he was alive for sure, or at least barely. Thus, Ghetsis was the ultimate form of entertainment. Yet, its fading would occurr. Fading would descend from the sky or ascend from the depths. How many stones were watching him? Everything could become Boredom. The wind started his procession on the Route, and why was he doing it was far from them. They had arrived in a daily ritual which they did not care about for all of their life. 

-I don't know either. We can sleep in this wood, as long as you let your Pokemon out. 

-My Lord, thou should watch out thine manners, and ways of speaking. 

-My body just talked on his own. There's no use in pretty speech anymore. Clay said it once, but I wouldn't talk like him either. Let us just sleep for now, and talk in an average way. Since we don't belong anywhere, let us at least be understood easily by locals. 

-Alright, then where shall we sleep, my dear Lord? On the ground?

If Ghetsis truly intended to change, he would have no choice. Well, they already had slept in a cave, so it was not that difficult, for sure. But would his disturbed ego of him managed to overcome such awful trivial issue? Anyway, this would further hinder the ancient watches Zinzolin used to wear. They were not molten within him anymore. What time was it, anyway?

-On the ground. The grass and leaves should be a better bed than the icy rocks we used to slumber on. 

-S-sure, my Lord. 

The former Sage released his old Cryogonal. He had been with him for such a long time... How many years, already? He probably knew how many for a while, too. Yet, not anymore. Was it that important that his Cryogonal was a friend for twenty years, thirty years? 

-Cryogonal, please watch us over while we sleep. 

The ice shook itself. No breeze was damaging it, neither welcomed near it. "It" was not, after all. They were only answering what their... master asked of them. Or did they see him as a friend? They lay on the mixing floors. How many colors would they see once woken up? 

-Heeeey... you old stuff... what are you doinnnn' here...

The noise, the foreign noise was getting closer, somehow. It could be running on trillion legs, scratching the wind circling the area for the moment, or already gone above their closed eyes. The sound rushed forward, whatever its shape. What was "it"? The sentence was harmless in a sense. Was it actually a sentence? Wait, was "it", it? The first piercing, yet soft intruder was not there, anymore. The end of the former cogs's world might hath come. Spin, spin, mayeth thou spinst all of thy might, clock, for that I care. This was not supposed to happen. Sounds were scarce animals. A breathing beast was loitering. 

-Heeey... old stuff, just get up alreadyyyyyy... 

Harmlessness embodied the voice before the other way round. Yet, the former Sage gathered garbage knowledge. Was the cycle mocking them to the point of sending such a ridiculous trap and death? He forced his eyes opened. They indulged into colors before shades, although shades still stood at the apex of the world, which he was to grasp if he followed something. Would he get his hand on it before his death was something else... A dark blue jacket flowed in the wind, somehow broken upon the limbs shrouded by it. The breeze was walking again, on her two paws for sure. The Metamorphosis probably had bestowed some entertainment upon her, but she was still there, pacing around. This was, not an illusion. The brown fisheyes were not either. The most harmless Pokemon Trainer of Unova was there, and yet he was "there". The cap barely locking away his hair danced along the air, and the mahogany hair, maybe hairs at this point, looked as a patchwork. The cap was no longer working on this body, and probably it was not supposed to under this... boy's orders, if he could only give some. 

-...Nate. 

Ghetsis could not still sleep. Or was slumber taking over him when he had survived a potential attack among trillions? He could fake his sleep to kill Nate. Yet Cryogonal had not been defeated... 

-Oh yeeeah, that's me. I've just... kiiiind of...? Ehh, make Cryogonal sleep. He's an ice type Pokemon aaaand I just don't want to fight this tyyyype... Freeze is soooo annoying... 

-What are you doing here, young boy? This is quite the dangerous company, isn't it? 

He could try to slow him down with peaceful talk, but chosing a Pokemon different from Cryogonal would probably be suspicious. Cryogonal would be able to wake up if they had been sent asleep a while ago. 

-Ehhhhh... I wouldn't say thaaaat... Rosa just told me some Psy Type Pokemon were arouuuuund... She probably got it wroooong or something... 

-I do not think Psy Type Pokemon would gather in a wood-like area, young boy.

Wasn't he helping him, somehow? The conversation could go forward for a moment at least. The Boy touched the shoulder where the bag was not lying. Was he actually caring for all of these items? Since he did not even think of Rosa teasing him... 

-Aaaah yes... that would make seeense... I guess...? Dreamyard had Munnaaaa... Munna is happy with me I thiiink... since I'm happy with him, at le...ast? 

-Why... are you seeking Psy Type Pokemon?

-Eeeeh... I didn't expect to be asked something like thaaat... I just want to befriend some and have some good dreams before kicking out Caitlin... she's liiiike so cool but annoying at the same tiiiime... 

The reason was too short. Asking something else would almost sound as if he were interested in the boy. And nobody was waking up. His voice was harmless yet hurtful, was it not? The floating Munna could have created a special nightmare, after all. But even if Ghetsis or Cryogonal woke up, it would not change the situation. They could be the ones dreaming. 

-Oh yeeeah... I won't tell anyone you're heeere... I mean if I can beat y'all, no one will have troubles handling you ehhhh... And I'm not hereeeee for that anywayyyy... I just hoooope you won't come across Hilbert and Noeeel... They're really doing their beeeest by selling Combees's honey and I dunno how they would react just by seeing youuu. I'm off!

The semi-intruders disappeared along some time. The wind barely kept on before moving on, probably. Time could not have been frozen. Cryogonal had woken up. Some Bug type Pokemon were as well walking around. 

-Ghetsis, my Lord, we should move on... 

-I know, Zinzolin. I know. 

Cutieflies appeared between dead and living leaves, disappearing again before exchanging their spaces. Some lights flickered before fading. This loop would be a day, before another. What would be next? It was not for the human mind to understand. 

-Let us rent some hotel room or something along these lines. Shouldn't we also, finally, change our names? 

-S-sure, my Lord but... 

-Just listen to me and obey as for now. You should stop calling me "Lord" as well. It will only sounds suspicious, my dear Zinzolin. 

Was he hallucinating? Or dreaming? Or already dead? Among the three stereotyped answers, one had to be right. Parallel universe, maybe. Or something... else. The "possibility" Arceus would have bestowed upon them, neither by love nor wrath. 

-"Dear"? Should I call you "dear" as well? 

Cutieflies ate on the trees, Mucks were sliding on the grass. No color had escaped. Crossing was far away from Pokemon, and far away from them, they were not. A single move would lead to colliding. Were they accepted a bit more? Perhaps they had clear something out before being... being. 

-Please do if you feel it to be the truth.

Feeling nothing for Ghetsis would have been a boring lie. So it was not the case. Lying was a kind of entertainment, but it stopped being fun at a certain point. Thus, truth was needed. Some different feelings may have been fused to create what was... linking him to Ghetsis. Yet, it existed. There was a thing. Had it happened before? Or had it been growing over the years?

-I... cannot tell, Ghetsis. To be fair, I sure have been feeling something for you, and it probably is for the better since I could not have followed you for nothing but... I cannot tell exactly how strong it is. 

-Zinzolin... Do you remember last night? 

-W-wait, did Rosa say something dangerous that I did not remember? 

The other one gathered his legs to stand up. They did not fight back but slumber was not upon their bone spirit anymore. This body could hear, see, touch, talk, smell. The hand he handled for sure landed upon his head, full of everchanging greens. Elements were playing along the pack of emerald, viridian, swamp, mint, strands.

-No... I said that I wanted to "become a river".

-So you were not drunk.

-For sure I wasn't. Now I'm thinking about how Pokemon life must be great. 

-Ghetsis... are you sure everything is alright? Your gouged out eye has not been inflicting some huge pain over you and lead you to... madness?

-I am alright on this point, dear. I just thought of how clear our feelings would be if we were Pokemon. And of course we would escape all of our stupid lives and our dead-end thoughts. 

-I... I cannot tell you that you are wrong since you certainly are not... I would like my feelings for you to be clear.

-So do I, dear.

-Maybe... Humans are supposed to form their minds by observing Pokemon and evolving along them rather than being on a form of separation... ?

-Beware to not be a Sage again, my dear. 

-No worries, we shall die together soon, and the next ones shall make a better world, even more without us. 

Their bodies sat again on the deckchair.


End file.
